Reckitt Benckiser embarks on data-driven marketing overhaul with Google Cloud

Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has set out plans to embark on a data-driven push to refine its product marketing strategies with Google Cloud over the course of this coming year.

The UK-based firm specialises in the manufacturing of consumer health, hygiene and nutrition products, and said it will work with Google Cloud to digitise data collected from across its entire business.

This, in turn, will be used to inform how RB measures the success of its marketing campaigns, and shape the delivery of future ones too.

“RB will use Google’s machine learning [ML] capabilities to evaluate return on investment and plan future campaigns more effectively,” the companies said in a joint statement.

“RB will also run its own ML and auto-ML models, generating insights to optimise media spend, and creating more natural digital journeys as consumers go from awareness, to purchase, to advocacy, whilst always respecting data privacy.”

The collaboration forms part of a wider, multi-year digital transformation effort within RB with this part seeing the company drawing on the Google Cloud product portfolio to glean insights into the types of people who buy and use its products, and their buying behaviours.

“In addition, the partnership will enable RB to manage data and analytics, measurement and attribution, and automated martech activation across all of its channels – web, social, in-store, and more,” the companies added.

RB also further confirmed it’s in the throes of creating a series of digital hubs across the world – in the UK, US, Brazil and India – to establish further marketing-related use cases for its data.

“We hear every day that data is the new fuel for enabling business growth,” said Saqib Mehmood, senior vice-president of digital transformation and CIO of hygiene at RB. “However, in today’s digital world, where billions of data points are created every second, finding the right solution for your business can be more complex than anticipated.”

“In our journey to create a cleaner, healthier world, this close collaboration with Google Cloud is a very important milestone for our brands,” said Fabrice Beaulieu, executive vice-president of group marketing excellence and executive vice-president of category development organisation hygiene at RB. “Only by utilising data will we be able to better serve consumers and shoppers and create meaningful experiences for them.”

The RB customer announcement coincides with the first day of the Europe, Middle East and Africa-focused edition of the Google Cloud Next OnAir virtual user conference, which is set to run for the next five weeks.

During a pre-show briefing, Reckitt Benckiser was called out by Chris Ciauri, Google Cloud’s president of EMEA, as being a notable addition to the roster of customers who are joining forces with the firm to aid their digital transformation plans.

To this point, the company has announced a number of new customer wins in recent weeks, including details of its expanded technology tie-ups with consumer goods giant Unilever and financial services firm Deutsche Bӧrse.

“This year we’ve been privileged to announce a lot of new customers, both in the large corporate segment, as well as digital natives and disruptors,” said Ciauri. “And we think that combination is good for all our customers in terms of enriching the innovation that we can bring to each other.”